Scared of Water
by nightfury153
Summary: Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons. Jack's fear of water is reaching it's peak. Maybe it's time for a swimming lesson. Jackunzel. Rated T for minor swearing and because I'm paranoid.


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"Jack! Come one in!" Merida yelled. Her boisterous voice echoed across the glassy water, up to the Y- shaped tree where he was nestled. Hiccup stood next to her, trying unsuccessfully to adjust to the cool water. He wrapped his scrawny arms around his chest and shivered.

The hood of Jack's blue sweater was pulled down over his eyes, and despite the heat, he felt cold (colder than usual). His bare feet were propped up in front of him, one on top of the other, on the other side of the "Y". From here he could watch the events and still be far enough to not have to take place.

Jack swallowed thickly to clear his voice and called back, "I'll just stay here, princess. Don't mind me." Without turning his face, he gave her a two-fingered salute and a fake smile, then quickly tucked his shaking hand back into his hoodie pocket.

Merida booed loudly, making Jack's heart sink. He hated, _hated_ , to disappoint his friends, but just the thought of swimming made him anxious. There was no way in _hell_ that they were going to get him in, no matter what Merida said.

"Hey." Jack was yanked abruptly from his thoughts when a certain perky blonde popped up next to him like a lizard. How she was clinging to the rough bark of the tree must have been some sort of witchcraft. Jack adjusted his position so his feet dangled over the tree, creating enough space for Rapunzel to sit next to him. Her long hair was put into a thick, bunchy braid to keep it out of everything. The only thing she had on was her swimsuit; a white two piece that fit her form perfectly.

"You're not swimming?" She asked in good nature, swinging her legs.

"Nah." Jack muttered, trying to ignore the fact that there was, like, _no_ space between them. In the water, Hiccup was calling for Toothless to come in, but the dragon was having none of it.

"Why not?"

"I just… don't feel like it."

"That's okay." Rapunzel turned to him and reached her hand out, fiddling with his hoodie strings on impulse. Before he had processed what he was doing, he cupped her chin in both of his hands and pressed his lips to her forehead gently. Finally, Jack pulled away and pushed a stray lock of hair from her face, satisfied by her wide eyes.

"Go swim, princess. Don't stay here on my account." He smirked at her flushed cheeks and gave her a gentle nudge toward the lake.

With an ear to ear grin, she stood up in place. Merida and Hiccup were too busy reprimanding the dragon to notice the blonde leap from the crook and cannonball into the water, effectively drenching the Scot. Instinctively, Hiccup threw up his arms to defend himself, but the wave of water didn't even reach him. When the current had settled, Merida stood with her arms crossed in defiance, not even bothering to push the hair from her face.

"Toothless!" Rapunzel called, stretching her arms wide. Immediately the dragon perked up, ears standing high.

"Aw, come on! _Now_ you want to?" Hiccup groaned in exasperation. Suddenly intrigued, the red head separated the curtain of hair that could only be described as "soggy" from her face. She cleared a sight path just in time to see a one tonne dragon do a kamikaze dive into the lake, shoving all three of them under water. Jack winced in sympathy.

All four emerged at once. Hiccup turned away from the group and coughed up a lung full of water, while Merida watched on laughing. Rapunzel crawled up onto the slippery back of the dragon like a koala and gave him a pat on the head, saying, "Good boy," in a very smug tone.

In tones low enough that Jack couldn't hear, the three in the water stood together and talked as Toothless splashed around like a young puppy. Just as Jack decided to take a nap until they were finished, the group sprinted out of the water and threw themselves onto a large blanket they had set out earlier, wrestling for dominance of the huge picnic basket.

"Oi, Frost! You want food or not?" Merida yelled in the midst of the fight.

"Coming!" He drifted down to the base of the tree and made his way over to the group, twirling his staff as he went. The gentle whooshing sound gave him comfort against his rising anxiety about the water.

By the time he was at the blanket, Rapunzel had _somehow_ gotten the basket into her possession and was tossing food to each person. Hiccup opened his sandwich as Jack sat down cross-legged next to Rapunzel, making the blonde blush furiously. She mutely held a sandwich in his direction, but he shook his head.

"No thanks, 'Punz. I don't eat."

"What do you mean, 'you don't eat'?" Merida asked, her mouth already full of grilled cheese.

"I mean, I don't eat."

"Everyone _eats,_ frostbite."

"I haven't eaten in decades. I don't need to."

The knowledge of his "goddy-ness," as Rapunzel called it, was well known among the group, but was a bit of a sore subject, seeing as he would never age while they withered and died. Merida shrugged it off awkwardly and scarfed her sandwich down in seconds, wiping a few remnants of ketchup from her chin with her wrist. Jack could only stare in a mixture of disgust and awe.

With an almost savage-like grin, the red-head slapped her hands on her bare thighs and said, "So who wants to go swimming?"

"Again?" Hiccup asked in annoyance.

"Yes, you wimp."

"It was cold!"

Jack was tempted to poke Hiccup with his staff to show him what cold _really_ felt like, but Hiccup spoke up before he could move.

"Why didn't you come swimming?" Hiccup asked nonchalantly, taking another bite from his tuna sandwich.

Jack was quiet for a long time, focussing on his hands that were curled around his staff. He could feel the stares of his friends boring into the top of his head. A part of him wanted to use the normal excuse that he 'just didn't want to'. But an even bigger part of him was sick of lying and honestly, Jack wanted to tell someone for a change. Finally, he placed his staff on the picnic blanket next to him and said, "The last time I was in water, I drowned."

He glanced around at the group before hurridly expanding, "There were more important things to learn than swimming in my time, so when I went in…I... yeah."

There was a long moment of silence, and Jack feared he had said the wrong thing. Was it too much of a cry for attention? Should he have kept his mouth shut and laughed off Hiccup's comment? His anxiety built up until he was sure it would burst, when Rapunzel said:

"Jack, I had no idea. I'm so sorry." She took his hand, and his worry melted away.

"I knew you… died, I guess… I just..." Hiccup stuttered, "I didn't know."

"I don't think anyone did." Jack muttered, keeping his attention on his sandwich. Merida looked at him with an expression of horror. And it _really_ made him uncomfortable.

"But you can fly… _and_ you're immortal! Why would water scare you now?"

Jack sighed in aggravation. "Did you ever die, Merida? Have you ever drowned?"

"Well… no."

"It's not fun. When you can't hold your breath any longer, your body instinctively tries to breathe. But instead of air, you get icy water. Then you cough, and breathe in again. It's a cycle that never ends until you die," He should have left it there, but he was on a rant now, "The cold paralyzies you, and the whole thing hurts like hell. You'll have to excuse me if I'm not a fan of water." His voice cracked with emotion, a mix of anger and fear, and tears threatened to spill from his eyes.

The whole group was speechless. Rapunzel took his clenched hand in both of hers. "It's okay, Jack."

Hiccup sat in reverence, nibbling awkwardly at his sandwich. Merida's eyes darted back and forth; to the ground, the sky, the water, anywhere but Jack, who rapidly wiped his eyes dry.

"We can just stay here instead of swimming if you want." Rapunzel continued.

"No." He responded quickly, "You guys can go."

"It doesn't feel right to just leave you, though."

"It's fine, really." _This_ was the reason Jack should have kept quiet. As much as he loved being seen by children, he hated attention, especially for the wrong reason. And this definately counted as a wrong reason. For his whole life, living and… whatever this was, the one thing he hated most was people who looked for unecessary pity. Wasn't that what this was?

"You said you never learned how to swim, right?" Rapunzel broke the silence suddenly, deep in thought.

"Yeah. My dad left when I was a kid, so I had to learn to chop wood, and take care of the animals, and work for food, and… stuff."

"Huh..." She rubbed her chin.

"What?"

"What ' _what'_?"

"You have a thinking face, and it's making me nervous."

"I do _not_."

"Well...are you thinking of something?"

She shrugged in defeat, letting a smile spread across her face. "Maybe."

"What is it?"

"I was just thinking... if you learned to swim, would you be _as_ scared of water?"

"I hate this I hate this I hate this..." Jack muttered under his breath. He stood at the edge of the beach, just out of reach of the finger-like waves. Rapunzel had _convinced_ him to come down to the water with those huge, puppy-dog eyes.

Well, technically, she had just asked, but the eyes… Oh gods, those eyes.

The blonde took his hand comfortingly. "You'll be okay, I promise. We won't go deeper than you're comfortable with."

Taking a deep breath, he edged his foot forward so it made contact with the icy water. Immediately alarm bells exploded in his mind, and all he could think about was the sudden feeling of drowning. It took all his effort to put away those thoughts, and instead let the foot move towards the water until it was submerged.

"Oi frostbite, you plannin' on swimmin' with yer sweater on?" Merida yelled. She was already waist deep, while Hiccup and Rapunzel were standing on either side of Jack. Toothless was amusing himself by foraging for spare food and crumbs by their picnic spot.

"She's right. You can't swim with your hoodie." Hiccup shrugged helplessly.

"Yeah..." Jack muttered through gritted teeth. Before he could lose his nerve, he grabbed the neck of his hoodie and yanked it over his head, tossing it behind him. He could feel his face burning.

"Dude, you are ripped." Hiccup stated dryly.

"Yeah..." Jack tried to inconspicuously cover his muscular chest with his arms. Admitedly, this was one of the only times since he had taken his sweater off since he had become Jack Frost. He didn't sweat, ever, because of his constantly low body temperature, so he had no need to shower, and being the "snow god," so to speak, he was never near dust or mud. Immortality had it's peaks, his personal favorite being that he didn't get B.O.

The only other time he had taken his sweater off was after the fight with Pitch. He had been hit by the nightmare-sand in his chest and needed to get it bandaged by Tooth, who mysterioulsy knew how to treat numerous wounds.

Jack had a talent for making harmless situations extremely awkward, and he was a bit nervous that that would happen now. He was very tempted to turn around, grab his hoodie, and fly to Alaska, but before he could move, he noticed Rapunzel looking openly at his bare chest.

"You're staring." He said, letting a sly smirk spread across his face. Might as well embrace the awkwardness, right?

"No, I'm not." She responded hurridly, throwing her gaze down to her feet and pulling some hair out of her braid to cover her red face. Jack's smirk spread into an ear-to-ear grin, and he nudged her with his elbow teasingly.

"I'm just gonna... " Hiccup gestured awkwardly at the water, where Merida was just reaching chest height, "Uh… yeah." He waded into the wake towards the Scot, not looking back towards the two, muttering something about the cold water and ' _gods above'_.

"Are you ready to go in?" Rapunzel muttered from behind her curtain of hair.

"Not really, but… let's do it." He pulled in a deep breath and swung his arms in a circle, cracking his neck from side to side. His eyes didn't drift from the water.

"No need to be dramatic." She peeked nervously at him in between the strands, letting a small smile pull at her lips, being _very_ careful to keep her eyes on his _face_ this time.

"But I like dramatic. Makes me fun!" He tore his icy blue eyes from the lake and gave her a huge smile, making eye contact. Rapunzel forgot her nervousness and pushed her locks away from her face, grabbing his hand. Together they stepped into the water.

"C'mon, _fun-boy_. I'll give you a swimming lesson!"

 **Hey guys! Guess where I aaaaaaaammm…**

 **GUATEMALA!**

 **I'm on a mission trip for some weeks, and therefore have no wifi. I might be able to get a friend to get this up before the 19th, when I get back, and that's probably how your reading it now. Maybe.**

 **Hope you liked it, and as always, until next time,**

 **Nightfury153**

 **Love you guys!**


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